It's winter so we haven't really been paying attention, but all of a sudden it's starting to seem that behind our backs, a dystopian nightmare has been unfolding in New York's summer playground, the Hamptons! Last week, a couple was robbed at gunpoint in East Hampton, which by the way has gone broke. Real-estate prices everywhere are down, and no one is able to sell/flip their home for the kind of price they've become accustomed to. Businesses are suffering — one Sag Harbor gallery, according to the Journal, was recently forced to mark "a large painting of goldfish in a bag" down from $35,000 to $25,000 — and today, the Post reports a new, disturbing sign of decline:

A building contractor turned a posh Hamptons estate into a squalid trailer park — complete with a Winnebago left on the front lawn — when he let about 30 pals stay and party there while the owner was out of town, a federal suit charges.

Good lord! Before long, we'll hear they're serving SpaghettiO's at Della Femina.



SUIT: ESTATE TRAILER-TRASHED [NYP]